Already have an
E-Stake login?

Already have an existing ticket?

HOW 811 WORKS

Contact Arizona 811 from anywhere in Arizona at least two full working days prior to digging. Call 811 and you’ll be connected with the Arizona 811 Center. Tell the Locate Specialist where you plan to dig and what type of work you’re doing, and the affected local utility companies will be notified. They’ll send a locator to mark the underground lines, pipes and cables at your dig site so you’ll know what’s below – and be able to dig safely. You can also make your 811 ticket request online using E-Stake.

You want your project to be a success. Don’t forget the most important first step: Contacting Arizona 811 before you dig. Smart, safe digging is no accident. Always contact Arizona 811 before work begins so underground utilities are located and marked.

Homeowners, and even some professional excavators, still make risky assumptions about whether they need to have utility lines marked. Don’t risk it! It’s the law – and it’s critical to preventing serious injuries and damage to the utilities we all rely on every day.

Could you make it through your day without electricity, water, your telephone or mobile device?

Do you really want to risk your own life, and the lives of others, by accidentally striking an electric or gas line?

Protect yourself and your family, or co-workers at a job site. Prevent fines, as well as costly damages and service interruptions, by knowing what’s below before digging begins.

By the way, digging is just one of the many activities that requires you to contact Arizona 811 first. By law, you must contact Arizona 811 before “… any operation in which earth, rock, or other material in the ground is moved, removed or otherwise displaced by means or use of any tools, equipment or explosives and includes, without limitation, grading, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, auguring, boring, tunneling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing and driving.”

Wow! If your job calls for any of these activities, call 811 or use E-Stake to create your request online.

Good job – you’ve taken the first step toward safe digging by contacting Arizona 811.

What happens next?

Arizona 811 identified the facility owners/operators that have utilities buried in and around the dig site you identified. Now that they know about your digging plans, they’ll send professional locators to the site to identify where facilities are buried and mark them with paint or flags. In Arizona, locators have two full working days to respond (that excludes weekends and state holidays, so plan accordingly).
Be sure to check your dig site so you can be certain that all of the utility owners/operators listed on your ticket have responded. You’ll begin to see marks at your dig site, either where facilities or buried or indicating there are no conflicts. You might also be contacted by telephone or email.

Just remember: Wait until you receive responses from every single utility listed on your ticket! If the two full working days have passed and not all utilities listed on your ticket have responded, or if you have any questions about the marks or the process, call 811.

Well you called before digging, waited for your lines to be marked, and now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work!

By now locator crews, possibly from multiple companies, have been to your property and made sure to mark the approximate location of your underground utility lines. Check the area before proceeding with your project-if a member utility has not responded or if underground facilities are clearly present and not located, call your state one call center again to have the area located properly.

Now, you are now officially ready to dig!

When digging, make sure to always dig around the marks, not on them. Some utility lines may be buried at a shallow depth, and an unintended shovel thrust can bring you right back to square one – facing potentially dangerous and/or costly consequences.

Now that you’ve made the smart call to 811 and protected yourself, your family and neighborhood, make sure to spread the word about 811.

Don’t forget that with time, erosion or root structure growth may shift the locations of your utility lines, so remember to call again, each time you are planning a digging job. Safe digging is no accident.

Know what’s below. Always call before you dig.

41

YEARS IN BUSINESS

31

EMPLOYEES

500,000

INCOMING LOCATE-REQUEST TICKETS PER YEAR

3,050,000

NOTIFICATIONS TO UNDERGROUND FACILITY OWNERS/OPERATORS PER YEAR

Who We Are

Arizona 811 is committed to preventing life-threatening injuries and protecting the vital utilities we all rely on every day. A non-profit communication center, Arizona 811 facilitates all pre-excavation/digging notification services in Arizona and provides stakeholder education statewide in accordance with statutory requirements. Arizona 811’s services are free and available statewide.

Every project that requires digging starts with us

Did you know that Arizona 811 processes about half a million utility-location requests every year? From planting a tree to building a major league sports complex, no project is possible without first contacting Arizona 811.